1. Field
The disclosed embodiments relate to techniques for facilitating heat transfer in electronic devices. More specifically, the disclosed embodiments relate to optimized vent walls in electronic devices.
2. Related Art
A modern portable electronic device typically contains a set of tightly packed components. For example, a laptop computer may include a keyboard, display, speakers, touchpad, battery, buttons, processor, memory, internal storage, and/or ports in an enclosure that is less than one inch thick, 8-11 inches long, and 12-16 inches wide. Moreover, most components in the portable electronic device generate heat, which must be dissipated to enable safe use of the portable electronic device and improve long-term reliability. For example, heat generated by components in a laptop computer may be transferred away from the components and out of the laptop computer to prevent damage to the components and increase user comfort and safety while operating the laptop computer.
However, heat-dissipation mechanisms for portable electronic devices generally involve the use of additional parts and/or materials. For example, heat sinks, cooling fans, heat pipes, thermal spreaders, and/or vents may be used to dissipate heat from components in a laptop computer. Such heat-dissipating parts and/or materials may take up space within the portable electronic devices and may add to the cost of the portable electronic devices.
In addition, the heat-dissipating parts and/or materials result in exhaust flows that often contain heated air. This heated air can impinge on a display in a portable electronic device, and may increase the temperature of the display and/or may create temperature gradients on the display. The optical properties of displays that contain liquid-crystal materials are often a function of temperature. Therefore, the temperature changes and/or gradients can cause color changes and other visual artifacts that can degrade the quality of the displayed image.
Hence, space-efficient designs for portable electronic devices may be facilitated by more efficient and/or smaller heat-dissipation mechanisms in the portable electronic devices, and may reduce temperature changes and/or gradients on displays.